Most Life Purpose & Career Quizzes Suck, So I Created My Own

A few days ago, I was trying again to, you know, figure out the meaning of life and stuff. So I decided to go online and look for some of those life purpose quizzes and career quizzes to see if they could help me figure out what the heck I should do with my life.

So I spent over an hour and tried out about 20 of those things.

And they all sucked. It was a total waste of time. Some of them were very annoying haha. Only one actually seemed to be based on real science, but the results it returned were totally opposite of anything that I am actually interested in. I mean…the career recommendations it kicked back to me were the most boring jobs on the planet. Maybe some people would like them, but not me (we’re talking stuff like accountant, engineer, and some other stuff that I don’t even know what the heck kind of jobs those are).

So anyways, after going through every single quiz on the first two pages of Google results, I finally shut it down, opened up a word document, and just started making up my own questions.

Took me about 10 minutes, and the answer was like, “Duh. Of course that’s what I should do.” I guess I already knew the answer (and I knew it for A LONG TIME), but I just didn’t want to go that route, for some reason. So I added a couple more questions at the end and the solution seemed to emerge instantly. My blogging buddy Cyndi Calhoun already told me what I should do with my life, but apparently I never listen to Cyndi Calhoun. Had to figure it out myself. 😉

Anyways, here are the results…

9 Easy Questions That Helped Me Figure Out My Career Path

1. What have I wanted to be in the past?

Jet fighter pilot

Soldier

Ninja

Comic book artist

Cartoonist/artist

Photographer

Pastor

Teacher

Politician

Business leader-manager

Entrepreneur

Writer/author

Blogger/online personality

MMO (make money online) teacher/coach

Pro bodybuilder/powerlifter

Pro triathlete

Athletic trainer

Fitness/weight loss coach

2. If I delete everything that is not even slightly interesting to me now, what is left?

Cartoonist/artist

Pastor

Entrepreneur

Writer/author

Blogger/online personality

MMO (make money online) teacher/coach

fitness/weight loss coach

3. From #2, what would my real life friends and family say that I’d be great at?

Cartoonist/artist

Pastor

4. From #2 again, what would my online friends say I’d be great at?

Cartoonist/artist

Entrepreneur

Blogger

MMO teacher

5. What overlap is there between #3 and #4?

Cartoonist/Artist

6. If my success was guaranteed, which of these sounds interesting to me?

Cartoonist/artist

7. Does this answer surprise or perhaps frustrate me?

Not surprising, but I do feel frustrated by it.

8. Am I hesitant to pursue this answer as a career? Why?

I don’t know how to make money at this.

I’m afraid I’d have anxiety attacks if I had to do art gallery showings.

When I look at other artists on Instagram, I feel like my skills are totally inadequate.

9. Can any of these challenges be overcome? How have others done it?

I can go google, “how to make money as an artist”.

I can market art in other ways besides face-to-face customer contact.

I can look into other ways that cartoonists make a living today.

I can stop looking at other artists and just try 🙂

What makes this quiz different and why it works…

Most other career quizzes try to analyze your personality, and the ones I found (which unfortunately are hogging the first couple pages of Google search results) fail miserably at that.

This quiz is very straighforward and cuts through all that new agey BS.

Chances are actually pretty good that you already know what you’re good at and what you want. Your friends and family might have a pretty good idea of that too. I already knew what I was good at, and I kind of knew what I enjoyed doing, but I was hesitant and frustrated and intimidated, so I kept denying that and kept looking for something new (i.e. something easier).

That was lame, and I think it’s held me back for MORE than enough years now.

Time to get busy. 😉

So what do you guys think?

Are you already fulfilling your major definite purpose in life? Are you thrilled with your chosen career path?

If so, I’m jealous. But I’m super happy for you too.

And if you’re still trying to figure it all out, why not take a few minutes to go through my career/life quiz and see if it can help you? You can also go google life purpose quizzes and try them out. You might like them. But if you’re like me, you’ll be much happier just doing my 9 simple little career questions. No mumbo jumbo…just common sense.

One last thing…

If you think any of your friends and family and online connections could benefit from this exercise, please share this post with them on one of your social media accounts or maybe through a link on your blog (if you’ve got one). Who knows? It might help. The Internet DESPERATELY needs better career quizzes, so think of it as community service or something 😉

Once again, here are all 9 questions in a handy, pinnable infographic type thingie…

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9 thoughts on “Most Life Purpose & Career Quizzes Suck, So I Created My Own”

Chris…Chris…Chris….*heavy sigh* The only reason you are scare/anxious/stunned into inaction is because you have no clear path. Once you find your path, everything will become clear to you. I had the same thing happen to me a few months ago.

The questions you need to ask is what CAN’T I do with cartooning/arts? Have you thought about:

1. Offering your services? Book covers are HUGE
2. Create cartoon movies and post them on youtube. I know a number of folks doing this and not only are they getting a following, they are getting hired to do work for others.
3. Hit up local graphics offices to see if you could do some freelance work for them.
4. Fiverr.

Have the wheels in your incredibly talented brain started to turn yet? 😉

Hi Chris! Just shared this on Facebook. I took the quiz and guess what I came up with…Ha ha: writer. No surprise there. This was really good. Thanks for creating this and sharing with the rest of us. How about if you keep forging ahead taking the steps necessary for you to become a cartoonist/artist, and I keep forging ahead toward a career as a writer, and we will hold each other accountable along the way? Maybe I can write a book, and hire you to create the book cover? Interesting idea, huh?

Sounds like a plan! Except…maybe I’ll draw a book of cartoons and hire YOU to write the forward haha. =)

Hey, seriously, I’m glad you actually tried the quiz and found it helpful (and glad you shared it too). Isn’t it funny? Most of us probably already know what we should pursue; and all our friends already know too haha (just ask Terrye and Cyndi). We just have all these self-doubts holding us down and keeping us from launching forward into action.

We gotta take massive action, Karen. MASSIVE ACTION.
(I think we both know who I’m referencing there haha).

Also, I have to tell you, your cartoons have a very distinctive style. They go so great with your blog posts. Have you considered marketing them as stock images/cartoons for bloggers -maybe either pay per image, or a monthly subscription?

You know, I was thinking about marketing the cartoons. I actually made a few that were specifically geared towards IM/MMO guys (like the Panda one and the PBNs Are Dead one, but I never officially launched it as a service. I would think that there’s a market for it. There’s tons of guys in the MMO niche that might like to use them on their blogs. It’s just a matter of putting it all together and marketing it effectively.

Thank you for mentioning that. I think I’ll give it another shot and start putting something together. Might as well try it, right?

LOL…here it is a year later and I just happened to click on this post. Haha.
Well, thanks for the shout out. A little belatedly. Better late than never, right?
Anyways, yeah…that which others see is often what sticks out the most for what you might be good at. Indeed, I’ve always thought you were an incredible cartoonist! Hands down. I’ve been dabbling in art for a very long time (don’t make me count the years) and I STILL couldn’t match your skill when it comes to drawing cartoons.
Maybe I could do a kick ass still life, but who the hell buys a “still life in charcoal?”
Off the top of my head:
Notepads – remember Ziggy? I used to buy those things by the dozen!
Homework planners – I would read the little comics each week over and over again every time I opened my planner. Yeah, another Ziggy comic in that one, too.
Mousepads.
Greeting cards.
All of the above you can totally do at Zazzle – you already have the t-shirts, mugs, etc.. The bad thing about Zazzle is apparently the number 10,000. It takes about 10,000 products (not all different images, mind you) before you can really make a money dent.
So there are greeting card companies. And online newspapers.
And if you don’t want to do a gallery showing (I hate those, too), then you don’t have to do one. 🙂
And here’s a really cool website: http://theabundantartist.com
He has TONS of podcasts that are really helpful. When I was more into doing art (and less into writing), this website really, really helped me. I sold a $500 painting with his help.
You can do it. YOU CAN DO IT!!